Rollins - Before the Chop IV

BEFORE THE CHOP IV
(and after)

LA Weekly Writing (and more) 2012 2018

Henry Rollins

BEFORE THE CHOP IV 2018 Henry Rollins

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher.

Published by

2.13.61

7190 W. Sunset Blvd #602

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www.21361.com / www.henryrollins.com

2.13.61

Thanks to Heidi May & Mitch Bury of Adams Mass.

Thanks to Shelley Leopold and Gustavo Turner for the hire at the LA Weekly

Thanks to Rod Yates for the hire at Rolling Stone Australia

Thanks to Andy Hermann and Mara Shalhoup at the LAW for editing

Thanks to Carol Bua

Layout and design: Dave Chapple

Back cover portrait: Heidi May

JOE COLE 04.10.61 12.19.91

FOREWORD

I dont know why but whenever I have a job that is even remotely steady, I always wonder when and how its going to end, because it always does.

In 2011, I started working at the LA Weekly, in 2012, Rolling Stone Australia. I cant explain to you how much I liked doing the work. Towards the end of 2017, the LA Weekly came under new ownership and I thought it best to leave. A few weeks later, Rolling Stone Australia was taken out of circulation.

This book is in three parts: The first part is the last of the LA Weekly columns since Before The Chop III, the second part is four more columns I wrote afterwards to complete the calendar year of 2017 and the third part is the Rolling Stone Australia columns.

These jobs ended. They always do. I miss them both. Thanks.

Henry

Contents

Chapter 01

LA Weekly Columns

LA WEEKLY #301

10-27-16

Once More

Its a night off in Durham, North Carolina. I just watched Anderson Cooper interview Melania Trump on CNN. I guess things arent going well, so they had to bring her in for the charm offensive. Unsurprising to hear her accuse Billy Bush of egging on Trump, causing him to talk about pussy grabbing and all the rest. Ms. M then accused the left-wing media of bashing her husband. they want to influence the American people how to vote, and they are influencing in the wrong way. I think its the media just playing the recordings, airing the speeches and letting the electorate decide. Im convinced that not one of Trumps supporters give a damn what he said to Billy Bush or if any of the allegations of inappropriate behavior are true. If you want to find out what either candidate thinks of issues outside of the aforementioned, one will wear you out with information and plans, the other one, not so much.

I think Ms. Trumps interview was part of the Trump campaigns post-election defeat strategy for their lives going forward. Between her blaming everything from that damned left-wing media to her husband, claiming an election that hasnt happened yet is rigged, its obvious they have given more thought to rebranding the grift more than what the new wallpaper in the White House will look like. This is where Trump, the failed businessman, shows his huge acumen. The campaign was just another mafia style bust out. If Trump loses, his earnings in the private sector will skyrocket. Hell be able to sell everything from reverse mortgages and gold, to patriot prepper meals with a 25-year shelf life. His foaming followers will never admit they were had. That being said, if there is one country you would be foolish to predict the next move of, its the America. No matter who wins, the room is only going to get rougher.

American politics has certainly been this dismal before, you dont have to go too far back before the ghosts of McCarthy, Wallace and others crowd the windshield on your moonlight drive. It seems to be the same bad joke, all the worse from repetition.

If Hillary Clinton becomes president, some will see it as an achievement, much the same way many saw President Obamas two terms. I think Americans pat themselves on the back too often. The countrys history is a series of catastrophic choices and actions, resulting in not only a staggering body count, but a generational disenfranchisement and misery that should be the lesson, not the legacy. The great parts are, for the most part, what took you so longs. Examples are plentiful. Theres slavery, indefensible by any argument, made unconstitutional in 1865 by the Thirteenth Amendment. Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court decision in 1896, upholding segregation in public places, the idea of separate but equal making American style apartheid enforceable, overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Mildred Jeter, a woman of African and Rappahannock Native American lineage and Richard Loving, a white man, got married in the land of the free and the home of the brave which, at that time, didnt include Virginia due to the Racial Integrity Act, established in 1924, making it illegal for people of different races to marry. The Lovings were married in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, they lived in Virginia. Their home was raided and their legally obtained marriage certificate got them both sentenced to a year in prison. Thankfully, they were allowed to leave the state without having to serve the time. In 1967, the Supreme Court invalidated these ridiculous laws. Im not holding my breath for America to be great. At this point, Ill settle for semi-literate and not as afraid of science as it used to be.

While the countrys backstory is splattered with blood soaked injustice and not at all great, many of the inhabitants are. It is my third night in North Carolina. The days have been perfect early fall, a little warmer than they used to be but Ill just deploy my inner Rubio and work around that. Not even House Bill 2 can keep the state from being great. Some of the friendliest, most even-keeled people I meet on tour are here.

Every night, I look into the audience and see my optimism. Looking back are hundreds of sane, sensible people who have different expectations of everything from their government to the people they share America with. For the most part, they are younger than I am and Im willing to bet that we are different in many ways. Im part of the older demographic thats slowly but surely being moved to the sidelines. I tell them that I demand an upgrade from every one of them and myself. Brighter ideas, better outcomes, more intelligence, less fear, more science and innovation, less tradition and regression.

America is days away from finishing out eight years with a man a solid majority elected to change the countrys course. Turns out, the majority wasnt all that into it and ironically, it was the minority that bided its time and stood on their message with far more zeal. They wanted the past again more than the rest wanted the future, so here we are. Okay, now its time to go back to the old play book. Another four years of being frustrated with elected officials you sent to Washington to do what they promised you so emphatically they were going to. Apparently, thats all we want and all we can handle. I stopped getting mad at politicians years ago and started getting mad at myself instead. The blame for the grinding dullness and depressing predictability of the current election cycle is on the electorate as much as it is on the candidates. That the America gets everything it deserves and settles for is a hard truth to swallow. Maybe one day, well get tired of choking.

LA WEEKLY #302

11-03-16

Award Show

Im in Sayreville, NJ tonight at the Starland Ballroom. The woods behind the venue make you wonder if there might be some wise guy bodies buried back there.